


The More Things Change

by woodsong_1978 (Vae)



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-21
Updated: 2010-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-06 12:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vae/pseuds/woodsong_1978
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not the same, but it is</p>
            </blockquote>





	The More Things Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [suthnoli](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=suthnoli).



> Joss is boss. The characters aren't mine, neither is the 'verse. Just playing here. No profit is being made. No copyright infringement intended.

It wasn't the same, Inara's shuttle. Didn't fit into the picture Kaylee still carried in her mind, that memory of silk and velvet luxury that carried with it scents of flowers and vanilla and sweet spices that linked in with the way her momma's baking used to fill the kitchen. Of course, Inara's shuttle never had the smells of oil and grease there as a background note, but it had that same comfort to it. The same sense of belonging, of slipping into a familiar place left open for her.

But the shuttle wasn't the same, not like it had been. Kaylee could still remember it, the way it had been before, when Inara got it first set up so pretty, and then in the year and more she'd been flying with them as the pretty lost some of its shine and got more _home_ to it. With Inara's return, it was new again, awkward again, without those soft edges.

New enough that the first time Kaylee went back to the shuttle, she paused at the hatch, scrubbed her hand against her coveralls to wipe off any grease Serenity's grav-drive might have left there, and actually knocked instead of just bouncing in. Wasn't that she thought Inara might have a client with her, everyone knew Inara hadn't registered as active with the Guild again. Kaylee didn't know why, but Inara had always kept her secrets. So, no client, and the captain was...well, the captain hadn't been nowhere near 'Nara's shuttle since it had become 'Nara's again and was stomping around like a bear with a sore pi gu who'd gone and sat on a fallen hornet's nest by accident, but anyway, Kaylee was pretty gorramn sure that Inara would be on her own, just...didn't feel right, not knocking.

Even in the middle of Serenity's sleep cycle when she knew that Inara was alone and she'd always been welcome before and tian a, that was the hatch opening. Kaylee pressed her hand harder against her coveralls, looked at Inara, all glowing and blurred with sleep, face clear of paint and her hair all tumbled down for sleep, and swallowed. She licked her lips, looked at Inara, let her eyes stray down, and swallowed again, lost for words.

"Kaylee?" Inara opened the door wider, soft light behind her from the glow of lamps. "Is everything all right?"

"I, uh..." Kaylee dug her fingers harder into the rough fabric of her coveralls. "I...

Inara reached out to take her arm, and tugged on it, gentle and firm. "Qing jin, Kaylee."

"I just got done working," Kaylee blurted, then bit her tongue on anything else that might want to come out, and went in, hearing the hissclunk of latches falling into place as Inara closed the door again behind them.

There was a moment when Kaylee wondered if there was anything else she should say, if anything else had changed all that much, and then Inara's fingers were working at the buttons of her coveralls, pushing them down, and then Inara was at her feet, loosening the laces of Kaylee's workboots so she could step out of them.

"'Nara..." Kaylee whispered, one hand going to touch Inara's hair before she could stop it, halted the movement before it could connect when Inara looked up at her, the smile all the more real for not being emphasized by lipstick.

There weren't no jewels, either, none of the gems and precious metals she was so used to seeing on Inara during the day, no rings on the hands that gently eased Kaylee out of her clothes until she was standing in her panties and bra, pretty, frivolous bits of hot pink lace that were Kaylee's promise to herself underneath the practical work clothes. No chains to chime around Inara's wrists or ankles as she led Kaylee over to the bed, and no perfume but the sweetness of Inara's own skin when she drew Kaylee close to her.

Maybe Inara's shuttle wasn't the same, but this was. Kaylee closed her eyes in contentment, fitted her body against Inara's, and followed the warm temptation of Inara's closeness down into sleep.


End file.
